Swans help to keep the homeless warm this winter

2nd November

The Swans have today launched a new charitable campaign to help keep the homeless of Wales warm this winter.
Give A Jack A Jacket aims to collect fans' unwanted winter clothing to help the thousands of homeless people living in Wales keep out the cold.
"Between April last year and March 2016, nearly 7,000 households became homeless, equating to over 15,000 people. Whilst we can't buy them all a house, what we can do is give them a jacket, hat or scarf to warm them up over Christmas. This Club is about more than the 11 players on the pitch, and over the course of the season we will continue to actively support, help and work with various members of our local communities," said Jordan Harris, Swans marketing and PR co-ordinator.
Kicking off this month, Give A Jack A Jacket will run throughout November and December and during those months, the Swans will use clothes banks distributed around the Liberty Stadium on match days, as well as in the club shops and ticket office to collect donations from fans.
The clothes banks will be available for donations at the Liberty Stadium from today (Wednesday), as well as at the club shops in Cwmdu and Debenhams from Thursday. The Jack Army can also donate pitchside this Sunday as the Swans take on Manchester United, with all the donations going to Welsh charity, The Wallich.
Providing accommodation and support services for homeless people across Wales, The Wallich operate 70 projects throughout the country - including a Rough Sleepers Intervention Team in Swansea - which will benefit from the Give A Jack A Jacket campaign.



Jan Balsdon, The Wallich's director of fundraising and partnerships, said; "The Wallich supports hundreds of rough sleepers in Swansea each year who face harsh conditions, both from the environment and also from the loneliness that comes with being homeless. To receive jackets from Swansea City will not only keep them warm and dry, it will mean so much to them to feel like part of the community again.
"Forty per cent of the people we support in Swansea are young people, many of them are supporters of Swansea City. Our work with rough sleepers is the first step in helping someone to overcome their issues and turn their lives around. We're really grateful to the club, fans and everyone who helps us provide for some of the most vulnerable people in our society."
In addition to collecting the warm clothing, the Swans will host 150 of the Wallich's service users at the Liberty Stadium at the end of the month, where they will be welcomed to SA1 with a hot meal supplied by our catering partners Levy Restaurants UK.
As well as supporting The Wallich, the club will make a donation of Swans scarves to Age Cymru to ensure their Swansea-based participants are able to fight the chill this Christmas. For every ten season tickets renewed during the first week of December, the Swans will donate a scarf to the charity to be added to the hampers they deliver during the winter.
Fans are invited to make donations before kick-off (3pm) on Sunday in the banks situated around the Liberty Stadium. Share your donation photos with us by tweeting @SwansOfficial a picture using the hashtags #GiveAJackAJacket and #morethan11.